Farm Smarter, Not Harder

Sometimes it’s not about making more money but saving more money, according to the recent Top Farmer Conference hosted by Purdue University. Included in the conference was a panel titled “Strategies to Reduce Your Cost Per Bushel in 2025” that underscored this principle.

The session was emceed by Michael Langemeir and hosted by panelists Shaun Casteel and Bill Johnson, who both outlined ways to decrease your overhead, while still making your crop yields profitable.

Managing Costs: Cash Rent and Machinery

“Be careful with how aggressive you get with cash rent,” advised Langemeir. “You’re looking at two to three years of losing some money. It’s a very important decision. It’s a big cost of corn and soybeans.”

He said he also keeps an eye on machinery cost investment standards.

“Add up depreciation, repairs and fuel by crop and compare those numbers to the benchmarks,” Langemeir said. In addition, look at higher mechanical costs with scrutiny, because if they save enough on labor, those extra costs may be worth it.

Maximizing Yield With Timely Planting

Timing the planting season is also important so that the crops have maximum time to grow and increase the yield.  Casteel said that he sows soybeans once corn planting is done and that on his farm, it’s purely a financial planning decision.

“Soybeans are the ones making the profit,” he said. “One of the best ways to gain growth is timely planting.”

Even if it seems early, as long as the soil temperature is 50 degrees or warmer, he’ll “pull the trigger,” he said. “Rarely in the fields does it go cold again. They [soybeans] respond to photo periods and heat units.”

Planting a month early can mean plants with 22 nodes (points on the plant’s stem where leaves, branches and pods grow), instead of 18 nodes. More plant material means a bigger harvest.

Effective Use of Soil Tests and Herbicides

As for applying phosphorus and potassium, Casteel relies on soil tests to understand the fertility level. Wasting soil amendments where they’re not needed results in a loss of time and money and also contributes to compaction with having to do another pass over the field.

Farmers should be cautious to avoid unnecessary applications of herbicides.

“The real key to look at is what herbicide and which weeds are we going after,” Johnson said.

“Look at the weed emergence sequence. [For instance] lambsquarters, foxtail and giant ragweed emerge early, like [in] April. I’ve seen giant ragweed as early as spring break when we’ve had a mild winter. Morning glory, crab grass and those types don’t come up until early to mid-June and are a big head [while] palmer amaranth and waterhemp come up in between.”

By carefully scouting and observing what weeds are problematic, farmers can time herbicide spraying right after the weed has germinated, which is generally when the plant is most vulnerable.

“I like to put it in within a week of planting time,” Johnson said, but added that farmers should review the label for the right application time.

Tillage can be used for weed control, but Johnson cautioned farmers to consider if the “gains in efficiency warrant the results. Think about that trade-off,” he said.

Cover Crops and Pest Control

Cover crops can also help reduce weeds and the competition they bring to the crop. Johnson believes that 2,500 pounds of biomass per acre is the minimum threshold for weed suppression. That’s about 8,000 pounds maximum at planting.

“Once you’re at 8,000 pounds, you start having issues with how well you can place seed and the planting equipment,” he said.

“For most of us in the Eastern Corn Belt, covers play very well with residual herbicides. If we can get the residual herbicide applied to the cover crop biomass, we’ll eventually get that washed down into the soil.”

Casteel said that insecticide seed treatments haven’t been proven to affect his harvest much.

“If yours are the first beans up, there will be a little feeding but nothing having to warrant an insurance seed treatment,” he said.

As for rodent control, working with an entomologist can help farmers know what kinds of pest pressures they can anticipate for the season. Johnson encourages farmers working with herbicides to pay attention to mixing directions for the highest efficacy.

“Some herbicides work better with oil; some with non-ionic surfactant,” he said.

Products with certification by the Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology means that the product has been certified to contain the ingredients on the label and that their performance is useful. With products that are not certified, “you may not get the right bang for your buck,” Johnson said.

He also looks at calculating the amount of spray necessary based upon the hardness of the water.

“Ammonium sulfate ties up the hard water cations,” Johnson explained. “It keeps them from sticking to the herbicide in the tank. The ammonium binds to the herbicide molecule and makes it more oil soluble so that it will more easily diffuse into the plant cuticle.”

He calls corn the “diva crop” as it can be fussy about temperature and other field conditions. Excess moisture and the resulting fungus often require farmers to look at fungicides. But Johnson warned that as with herbicides, it pays to know the properties of the water the farmer adds to the tank.

“Scour the labels of fungicides to see if there are warnings about pH,” he said. “If there was, I’d get swimming pool test kits and do a jar test at the right ratios. If it’s in a danger range, there are pH buffers you can buy to keep it in the right range.”